Progress Information Service in Business Process Platform
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Solution Overview
Problem
In service-oriented architectures, clients lack meaningful progress information during service fulfillment, leading to user uncertainty about processing status, especially with lengthy requests, as existing solutions are either resource-intensive or overwhelm the client with cryptic feedback.
Innovation Solution
A system that provides progress information to clients by using a business process platform with shared memory to store and manage progress data, allowing a Controller Object to determine and update progress indicators based on business process IDs, and retrieve this information efficiently to display to users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the server system is hardcoded to provide progress information on a case-by-case basis, then progress information can be provided to the client, but the approach is inefficient and resource-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a progress information service that is pre-configured with templates and parameters for various business processes. Instead of hardcoding progress information logic case-by-case during service execution, the system prepares progress information templates in advance, defining what progress metrics to track and how to format them. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for resource-intensive runtime decision-making about what progress information to provide.
Solution Approach 2:
The progress information service creates a universal framework that can handle multiple different business processes and service types through a common architecture. The service uses configurable templates and parameters that can be applied across various scenarios without requiring custom hardcoding for each case. This multi-functional approach improves efficiency by reusing the same progress information infrastructure for diverse business processes.
2Loss of information
If all generated feedback information is provided to the client, then complete progress information is available, but the client is overwhelmed with cryptic information
Solution Approach 1:
The progress information service extracts only the relevant and meaningful progress metrics from the complete set of generated feedback information. Instead of providing all raw feedback data to the client, the service identifies and extracts key progress indicators that are useful for the user to understand service fulfillment status. This selective extraction filters out cryptic or unnecessary information while maintaining complete and accurate progress tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The service applies different levels of information detail to different contexts and user needs. The progress information is customized and localized according to the specific business process, client type, and user role. This means that each client receives progress information tailored to their specific needs and understanding level, rather than a uniform stream of all possible feedback data. The information quality and detail are adapted locally to match the user's context.
3Device complexity
If no progress indication is sent during processing, then the system remains simple and resource-efficient, but the user is left uncertain about processing status
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a progress information service as an intermediary component between the service fulfillment process and the client. This mediator layer sits between the complex backend processing and the user interface, translating detailed processing status into meaningful progress indicators. The intermediary service manages the complexity of tracking progress across multiple business processes while presenting simplified, user-friendly progress information to clients. This mediator approach adds minimal complexity to the core system while significantly improving information delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
A system may include reception of the first instruction, execution of the business process in a first software work process, reception, during execution of the business process, of an indication of a business object process associated with the business process, determination of progress information associated with the business process based on the indication of the business object process, and storage of the progress information within a memory. Aspects may further include reception, at a second work process, of a request from the client application for progress information, retrieval of the progress information from the shared memory and provision of the progress information to the client application.